New build ~ re-published

Hi folks

Well sadly last thread of mine was accidently deleted with some spam that was posted in it, pitty as it has some great information in it, but such is life!

With alot of research and going on what I remember was posted I have decided to jump in with both feet with the below spec, so comments etc welcome.

Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail
Zalman CNPS9900-LED CPU Cooler
Asus P6T Deluxe V2 Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3
Corsair 6GB DDR3 Dominator PC3-12800C8 1600MHz (3x2GB) Triple Channel DDR3
2x Crucial 64GB 2.5" SATA-II (SLC) Solid State Hard Drives which will be setup in Raid0
4x Noctua NF-S12 800RPM 120mm Silent Case Fan 5-8dBA 35CFM
1x Noctua NF-R8 80mm Silent Case Fan 10-17dBA 22CFM (this one will sit behind mobo/CPU area in case)
Coolermaster CM-690 Dominator Case - Black

From old build is

Zalman Quiet PSU
Gainward Nvidia 8800GTS 640mb
Samsung 20" WS LCD
Microsoft 8000 Wireless BT Keyboard/Mouse
1x 1TB WD HDD
1x 320GN WD HDD
2x DVD RWs (1 is a Litescribe drive)


Still have enough spares to keep the old or now used Desktop going as a test box or maybe a WHS box, as it has 2x WD Raptors in Raid0 and I have 2 spare 120GB HDs and an Enermax PSU, just need a cheap PCI-E GFX card to go in it. Plus if the 80mm Quiet fan from new build is not too quiet it can go in this box as its going to be quieter than the 80mms in it now.


So if their was a post that anyone made sorry if I missed it in the old thread, but did take onboard the info posted that I did read, so thoughts?

And will be likelygetting the bits delivered mid next week, but may build next weekend.

So again thanks to who posted in old thread and this one is a update on what direction I'm going.

 

Hi Goran, its a 660W that I have currently, but can change if needed, to larger capacity.

@Borsung, no on games, do play some if I ever get time, which is rare, also the 8800gts is fine for my needs.

Indeed on 64bit and will likely run Vista Ultimate x64 with a view to run Window 7 x64 on it at RTM time, running Window 7 x64 already on two PCs.

 

Thought more on what you suggested Goran and now ordered a 1000w Zalman as went through the ASUS rough wattage calculator here and well was going to tip over the PSU I have nows max wattage,

 

Yes built and just needs tweaking a little, just at present rebuilding the older previous PC to use as a Win7 test PC as I'm not 100% happy with the performance of SSDs in Vista x64, while the Read speed wipes the floor with 2xWD Raptors in Raid0 the Write speed is not so good and the overall performance is patchy (access times are superb in 0.5ms compaired to HDDs around 8.0ms), but I know with new tech their is always a learning curve and SSDs at this point nee tweaking as many services are not needed, like Indexing etc

Coming at some point soon, but build when well and everything works fine, just the long task of installing and tweaking software and OS.

The Noctua fans are superb and just give you a slight noise of a light breeze, which is fine for me as its hardly noticable, plus cooling from the Zalman and the 4x120 Noctua and 1x80 Noctua fans, plus the case layout is keeping the CPU at around 30c idle and 45c load.

 

Yes Augie thats what I was and are doing the SSDs are setup in Raid0 as main OS drives, going to play with them in Win7 on the now spare PC, which is Core2Duo E6800 2GB Crucial Dominator ram, a GF9500GT (which I bought to setup the new PC instead of taking out the GF8800 while building), Win7 should and seems initally to handle them much better, even without Raid drivers and Chipset, they are more responsive than with Raid and Chipset drivers installed in Vista SP1.

as for wite concerns, SLC drives have a 10x longevity than the common MLC drives and I did the math and would be near 10yrs before issues would crop up with write times, but you do have to maximise the write wear, by turning off Indexing, and tbh its not needed when an SSD reads within .5ms the drive, plus other tweaks I'm going to test out, may pop them back in the main new PC when I have worked out best settings.


first benchmark without any tweaking gave me a Passmark 7 score of 1818.4 (do have pics and template, but on other PC at present)

 

Some pics, couple are off my phone as couldnt lay hands on the camera, while the cables in the finished pics look messy they are all appart from the main PSU and the side fans cable all pushed to the front and back sides of the HDD bays this allows the CPU fan no hinderance in pulling air from front of case as nothings in its direct way. (yfrog is imageshacks gallery)

http://yfrog.com/0himg0017czkjx

and some benchmarks, untweaked system, may at some point OC but really have no interest to do that as prefer a stable PC.

http://yfrog.com/04benchmarkweiscorejx


The SSDs are in older PC and just not had time as yet to play a bit more with them, will likely do so when Windows 7 RC is released.

 

Cheers

I know Cat, I have a fan fetish! they are placed where I thought max airflpw and removal of hot air would work best, it seems to as at idle the CPU is at 31-34c and at load running F@H its at 41-43c

I may try reversing the fan thats on the right side panel as you look at the front of case, which is one right behind the CPU mount point as the case has nicely cutout in the motherboard mounting backpanel which allows the hot air from the back of the cpu to be extracted or pushed in, so at present its expelling air out of case but may try drawing cooler air in onto the CPU back mount (likely need to take a pic for you to explain what it looks like)

the fans even though their are 5 case and 1 CPU are quiet and the case ones are these http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=25&lng=en not cheap as fans go but well worth the expense.

 

Nah Collinsl, great explaination on raid, as a graphical review of raid I do link folk to this as been a great resource for years http://www.acnc.com/04_01_00.html

@Magas, many thanks on the comments below, as for cost it was around £1100 GBP, expensive parts where motherboard, cpu and the SSDs (SSDs are in another PC at present as mentioned so I can mess with this tech more before putting them in this main PC) but always worth researching your parts well and if possible go for good quality as it makes a difference in the end.

I have used Raid0 for years and while its not as mentioned a true RAID, its one that adds some speed to the PC in data read and write as it can retrieve data much quicker than one single drive on its own, but running Raid0 has its own risks in if one of the array disks corrupts then you loose the whole array, which is why I use imaging backup software in Acronis True Image to keep a backup of the OS and software and keep my personal data on a different HDD.

 

Hi Colinsl

Sorry missed this reply, but the SSDs are Crucial, will give that link a good read cheers.

 

Indeed, tends to make migrating to SSDs a thing for a year or so's time, they will take off and the quietness and speed these things run at is good, but I'm not as yet finding it sustainable, still need to play and test alot more with the speed aspect, many things like Indexing, Defrag, System Restore and Page File etc need to be turned off or tweaked.

 

Must have light fingers.... did though try with the 2nd from bottom one first (why times I like to use bottom slot) and was weird to pop them out but once done once its easy, bit the best design on the case and have been messing with a damm PITA vibration today, its from top (perils of a case that all sides pop off)

i7 is superb and CPU mobo, HSF and case plus majorly the fans have kept it quiet and cool, hitting 45-8c tops running 100% cpu at idle its 32-35c with a 8800gts, 4 HDDs and a 1000w PSU.

nah its fine, I know raid arrays fine enough, setups mainly at home has been raid0 with two fast HDDs and then one or two HDDs for backup and data, downloads, docs, backup images etc


Have today re-installed Windows 7 on my older PC, still hits 5.1 on the Windows WEI score due to using a Nvidia 9500 card dragging it down top score was 6.7 by the CPU (C2D E6700), the SSDs with basic tweaking are in raid0 hitting over 200mb/s read and just under 100mb/s write, the WD raptors in this threads PC are hitting 146mb/s read and a higher than SSD write of 136mb/s but the SSDs are opening apps much quicker, just dont know the degradation they may hit (read alot on it but real live experience is much better than others hearsay) over time....

Still have to tweak a little from what others have tried but boot and shutdown time are rapid, installing apps is quick but with 200mb/s write times it should be, think in honesty give it a year before SSDs are good enough for mainstream, I like playing and will use in WHS box or use the SSDs in the laptops if needbe.

May actually use this PC as a WHS in the end as it has the power and potential and with having a few spare HDDs has the storage to use for my main desktop and 2 laptops in the house, just need to fit it with some Noctua fans for quietness (case on that pc is a Coolermaster aluminium ATS)